Collections can do some serious damage to your credit score. Removing them can do wonders! Just ask Patricia H.
To clarify, collections on a credit report refer to accounts that have been sent to a collections agency due to non-payment. When you fail to pay a debt, such as a credit card bill, medical bill, or loan, the original creditor will make several attempts to collect. When those don’t work, the account may end up with a collections agency that will attempt to recover the owed amount.
This action is then reported to the credit bureaus and appears on your credit report as a collections account. Collections can remain on your credit report for up to seven years from the date of the original delinquency, serving as a red flag to potential lenders.
Patricia found herself in this situation and came to us with several collections on her credit report. After her certified, nonprofit credit counselor was able to have a third of them removed, her credit score shot up from 493 to 584!
Now she’s working on improving her on-time payment history, which is the key to avoiding collections. She’s also learning valuable lessons about maintaining good credit that will serve her well in the future and put collections and late payments in her distant past.
Read more credit success stories here.